AN ACT to amend and reenact §19-1B-3, §19-1B-4, §19-1B-5, §19-1B-7,
§19-1B-11 and §19-1B-12a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, all relating to updating the Logging Sediment
Control Act; increasing licensure and certification fees;
requiring the Division of Forestry to report certain
information to the Tax Commissioner on a monthly basis;
requiring the Director of the Division of Forestry to notify
the Director of the Division of Water and Waste Management of
the Department of Environmental Protection of licensure
suspension or revocation within thirty days; establishing
renewal of licensure and certification on a biennial basis;
permitting the director the discretion to immediately suspend
a timbering operator or operation, or any part of a timbering
operation, in any part of the state; and requiring the
Director of the Division of Forestry to convene a committee to
review best management practices at least every five years.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §19-1B-3, §19-1B-4, §19-1B-5, §19-1B-7, §19-1B-11 and
§19-1B-12a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

(a) "Best management practices" means sediment control
measures, structural or nonstructural, used singly or in
combination, to reduce soil runoff from land disturbances
associated with commercial timber harvesting.

(b) "Chief" means the Director of the Division of Water and
Waste Management of the Department of Environmental Protection, or
his or her designee.

(c) "Director" means the Director of the Division of Forestry
of the Department of Commerce or his or her designee.

(d) "Operator" means any person who conducts timbering
operations.

(e) "Timbering operation,” or the plural, means activities
directly related to the severing or removal of standing trees from
the forest as a raw material for commercial processes or purposes.
For the purpose of this article, timbering operations do not include
the severing of evergreens grown for and severed for the traditional
Christmas holiday season; the severing of trees incidental to
ground-disturbing construction activities, including well sites,
access roads and gathering lines for oil and natural gas operations;
the severing of trees for maintaining existing, or during
construction of, rights-of-way for public highways or public
utilities or any company subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission unless the trees so severed are being
sold or provided as raw material for commercial wood product
purposes; or the severing of trees by an individual on the
individual's own property for his or her individual use provided
that the individual does not have the severing done by a person
whose business is the severing or removal of trees.

(f) "Sediment" means solid particulate matter, usually soil or
minute rock fragments, moved by wind, rainfall or snowmelt into the
streams of the state.

(a) A person may not conduct timbering operations, purchase
timber or buy logs for resale until he or she has obtained a license
and met the requirements of this article.

(b) Exemptions.– A person who severs or removes, or hires or
contracts with another to sever or remove, standing trees from his
or her own land is exempted from the timbering operations licensure
requirement of this section during any calendar year in which all
trees severed or removed by or for this owner have an aggregate
stumpage value that does not exceed $15,528. A person hired or
contracted to sever or remove standing trees from the land of
another is exempted from the timbering operations licensure
requirement of this section during any calendar year in which all
trees severed or removed by the hired or contracted person have an
aggregate stumpage value that does not exceed $15,528.

(c) An applicant for a timbering operation license shall submit
an application and the fee of $150 for each biennial renewal of the
license. The application shall contain the following information:

(1) Name, address and telephone number of the applicant and if
the applicant is a business entity other than a sole proprietor, the
names and addresses of the principals, officers and resident agent
of the business entity;

(2) The applicant’s West Virginia business registration number
or a copy of the current West Virginia business registration
certificate. The Division of Forestry shall submit this information
and a list of all applicants to the Tax Commissioner each month of
the calendar year to ensure compliance with payment of severance,
income withholding and all other applicable state taxes; and

(3) Any other information as required by the director.

(d) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code, regarding the acquisition, suspension and revocation
a license under this article. The rules are the proper subject of
emergency legislative rules that may be promulgated in accordance
with the provision of section fifteen, article three, section
twenty-nine-a of this code.

(e) The director shall prescribe a form providing the contents
and manner of posting notice at the timbering operation. The notice
shall include, at a minimum, the operator's name and license number.

(a) Upon a finding by the chief that failure to use a
particular best management practice is causing or contributing, or
has the potential to cause or contribute, to soil erosion or water
pollution, the chief shall notify the director of the location of
the site, the problem associated with the site, and any suggested
corrective action. Upon the failure of the director to take
appropriate action within three days of providing notice to the
director, the chief may seek relief through the conference panel in
accordance with section eleven of this article.

(b) Upon notification of the chief or upon a finding by the
director that failure to use a particular best management practice
is causing or contributing, or has the potential to cause or
contribute, to soil erosion or water pollution, the director shall
issue a written compliance order requiring the person conducting the
timbering operation to take corrective action. The order shall
mandate compliance within a reasonable and practical time not to
exceed ten days. The person subject to the order may appeal the
order within forty-eight hours of its issuance to the conference
panel in accordance with section eleven of this article.

(c) The director has the discretion to immediately suspend a
timbering operator or operation, or any part of a timbering
operation, in any part of the state if:

(1) The director believes that the observed damage or
circumstances on a timbering operation are sufficient to endanger
life or result in uncorrectable soil erosion or water pollution, or
if the;

(2) The operator is not licensed pursuant to this article; or

(3) A certified logger is not supervising the timbering
operation.

(d) The timbering operation, the operator, or both shall remain
suspended until the corrective action mandated in the compliance
order is instituted. The director shall not lift the suspension
until compliance is satisfactory or until overruled on appeal.
Failure to comply with any compliance order is a violation of this
article. The timbering operator or operation subject to the
compliance order may appeal to the conference panel in accordance
with the provisions of section eleven of this article.

(e) For a second violation within any two-year period, the
director may suspend the license of any operator conducting a
timbering operation or the certification of any certified logger
supervising a timbering operation for no less than thirty nor more
than ninety days if the person is found in violation of this article
or article eleven, chapter twenty-two of this code. One or more
violations for the same incident is only one violation for purposes
of this subsection.

(f) For a third violation within any two-year period, the
director may revoke the license of any operator conducting timbering
operations or the certification of any certified logger if the
person is found in violation of this article or article eleven,
chapter twenty-two of this code. One or more violations for the
same incident is only one violation for purposes of this subsection.
A revoked license is not subject to reissue during the current
licensing period.

(g) The director shall notify the chief of any order issued or
any suspension or revocation of a license pursuant to this section
within thirty days of the director's action.

(a) Any individual supervising any licensed timbering
operation, or any individual supervising any timbering operation
that is not exempted from the licensing requirements set forth in
section four of this article, must be certified pursuant to this
section.

(b) The director is responsible for the development of
standards and criteria for education, training and examination that
must be successfully completed for persons to be certified to
supervise any timbering operation. The program for certified
loggers shall provide for education and training in the safe conduct
of timbering operations, in first aid procedures and in the use of
best management practices to prevent soil erosion on timbering
operations. The goals of this program will be to assure that
timbering operations are conducted in accordance with applicable
state and federal safety regulations in a manner that is
environmentally sound and safe.

(c) The director shall provide programs using the resources of
the division, other appropriate state agencies, educational entities
and other qualified persons. Each inspector under the jurisdiction
of the chief shall attend a certification program free of charge and
complete the certification requirements of this section.

(d) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, to effectuate the purposes of this article.

(e) Upon a person's successful completion of the certification
requirements, the director shall provide proof of the completion by
issuing a numbered certificate and a wallet-sized card to that
person. The division shall maintain a record of each certificate
issued and the person to whom it was issued.

(f) A certification granted pursuant to this section is
renewable only for four succeeding years. For the second renewal
and every other renewal thereafter, the licensee shall first attend
a program designed by the director to update the training.

(g) Every timbering operation that is required to be licensed
under section four of this article must have at least one person
certified pursuant to this section supervising the operation at any
time the timbering operation is being conducted. All timbering
operators shall be guided by the West Virginia forest practice
standards and the West Virginia silvicultural best management
practices to reduce sediment movement during a timber operation.

(h) The director shall, at no more than five-year intervals,
convene a committee to review the best management practices to
ensure that they reflect and incorporate the most current
technologies. The committee shall, at a minimum, include a person
researching silvicultural best management practices, a person in the
field of silviculture, two loggers certified under this article, a
representative of the Division of Water and Waste Management of the
Department of Environmental Protection and a representative of an
environmental organization. The director shall chair the committee
and may amend the best management practices according to the
suggestions of the committee for the next certification cycle.

§19-1B-11. Creation of conference panels; authority.

(a) Each forestry region in this state shall contain an
informal conference panel composed of three persons to decide
appeals of the director’s orders. One member of the panel shall be
selected by the director, one member shall be selected by the chief
and one member shall be selected by agreement between the chief and
the director. If a vacancy exists on the panel, the vacancy shall
be filled by whomever made the initial selection. The members of
the panel shall serve without compensation.

(b) Upon appeal of a decision under this section or upon
petition by the chief, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a),
section five of this article, the panel shall hold an informal
conference affirming, modifying or vacating an order of the
director, or issuing an order in the name of the director. The
panel shall forthwith notify the parties of its decision and as soon
as practicable send written notice of its decision to the parties.
The decision of the panel is final.

(c) A party aggrieved by a decision of a panel may appeal to
the circuit court of the county wherein the cause for the order
arose. The appeal must be filed with the circuit court within
twenty days of the date of decision of the panel and shall be heard
de novo by the court. The court may reverse, vacate or modify the
decision of the panel. The decision of the circuit court is final
unless reversed, vacated or modified on appeal to the Supreme Court
of Appeals in the manner provided by law.

§19-1B-12a. Criminal penalties.

(a) A person who knowingly or willingly commits one of the
following violations is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than $250 and not more than $500
for each violation:

(1) Conducts timbering operations or purchases timber or buys
logs for resale in this state without holding a valid license from
the Director of the Division of Forestry, as required by section
four of this article;

(2) Conducts timbering operations or severs trees for sale at
a location in this state, without providing the Director of the
Division of Forestry with notice of the location where the timbering
or harvesting operations are to be conducted, as required by section
six of this article;

(3) Conducts a timbering operation in this state that is not
supervised by a certified logger who holds a valid certificate from
the Director of the Division of Forestry, as required by section
seven of this article; or

(4) Continues to conduct timbering operations in violation of
an existing suspension or revocation order that has been issued by
the Director of the Division of Forestry or a conference panel under
sections five, ten or eleven of this article.

(b) For the purposes of this section, each day that a person
conducts timbering operations in this state without a license as
required by this article, without the supervision of a certified
logger as required by this article, without providing notice of the
location to the director as required by this article, or in
violation of an outstanding suspension or revocation order shall
constitute a separate offense.

(c) In addition to any other law-enforcement agencies that have
jurisdiction over criminal violations, any forester or forest
technician employed by the Division of Forestry, who, as a part of
his or her official duties is authorized by the Director of the
Division of Forestry to inspect timbering operations, is authorized
to issue citations for any of the listed violations in this article
that he or she has witnessed. The limited authority granted to
employees of the Division of Forestry to issue citations to enforce
the provisions of this section does not include the power to place
any individual or person under arrest.